How to make R&B music with creative constraints

What makes R&B tick

R&B builds its harmony on top of a groove. Minor ninths, major sevenths and dominant thirteenths, often played on a Rhodes or a Wurlitzer, move with smooth voice leading rather than big jumps. The feel is often a slow jam at 60 to 90 BPM in 4/4, sometimes with a triplet subdivision (effectively 12/8, the rolling pulse of doo-wop and slow blues), or a mid-tempo groove. The bass is a warm electric bass, a synth bass or an 808 that slides between notes, and the vocal is arranged in layers of lead, doubles, stacked harmonies and ad-libs.

Spend your effort on the turnaround and the voice leading. A four-chord R&B loop can sound like a whole song if each chord shares two notes with the next and the last chord pulls back to the first. Melisma (many notes on one syllable) is a vocal signature of contemporary R&B, but it needs a chord that holds still underneath.

Constraints that work in R&B

• Electric Piano (Rhodes/Wurli) for R&B Chords: play every chord as a four-note voicing in the middle of the keyboard, root in the bass only. The instrument does half the genre for you.
• Slow Jam 4/4 with Triplet Feel (R&B): put the hi-hats on the triplet grid, the snare on two and four and the kick sparse, and every chord change gets room to breathe.
• Prominent 808 Bassline with Glide/Pitch Bends: four notes, long glides, a melody of its own under the chords. Think of the bass as a second singer.

Mistakes that flatten an R&B track

• Extensions without voice leading. A minor ninth followed by a major thirteenth an octave away is two chords, not a progression. Keep the top voices close.
• Straight hats over a triplet feel. Pick one grid for the whole section. Mixing them makes the groove stumble.
• Kick and 808 fighting. Tune the 808 to the key, high-pass the kick or shorten it, and let the 808 own everything under 60 Hz.

How to use the 73 R&B cards

Build the chord loop before the beat. Loop four voicings on electric piano, then put the drums under them. If your R&B hand includes a Roman numeral card like Imaj7 - viim7b5/ii - V7sus - Imaj7 (R&B Turnaround), that is your whole harmonic plan for the day.

The 24 cards below are a selection of the 73 tagged R&B in the deck. The button above opens a draw with R&B already selected; the hand you pull is your brief for the session. Pull cards, accept the brief, ship a sketch.

R&B constraint cards

• Chord Major 7th Create a major triad with an added major 7th interval. This smooth, jazzy sound appears in many genres.
• Chord Minor 9th Compose using a minor triad with added minor 7th and major 9th. Creates richness with a darker quality.
• Chord Half-diminished (Min7♭5) Compose with a minor triad with diminished 5th and minor 7th. Often functions as ii in minor keys.
• Chord 6/9 Use a major triad with added 6th and 9th. Creates a bright, contemporary sound without 7th tension.
• Roman Numeral ii - V - I (Major) Compose using the fundamental jazz progression in a major key. Can be elaborated with 7ths and extensions.
• Chord Maj13 Incorporate a major 7th chord with added 9th, (often ♯11th), and 13th. Creates a lush, colorful sound.
• Chord Min11 Use a minor 7th chord with added 9th and 11th. Creates a rich, atmospheric minor quality.
• Chord Maj7♯11 (Lydian Chord) Implement a major 7th with an added sharp 11th, implying a Lydian sound. Creates bright, modern color.
• Roman Numeral I - ♭IIMaj7 - I (Phrygian Modal Interchange) Use a ♭II chord (often Maj7 for color) for a Phrygian sound resolving to tonic. Creates exotic color with resolution.
• Chord MinMaj7 (Minor Major 7th) Use a minor triad with an added major 7th. Creates a melancholic, sophisticated sound with internal tension. Often used in film and jazz contexts.
• Chord Maj7♯5 (Major 7th Sharp 5) Incorporate a major 7th chord with an augmented (raised) 5th. Creates a dreamy or unsettling quality with both major and augmented elements.
• Chord 7♯11 (Lydian Dominant) Use a dominant 7th chord with a sharp 11th. Strongly implies a Lydian Dominant scale (4th mode of melodic minor). Creates colorful tension.
• Chord 7♭13 (Dominant 7th Flat 13) Employ a dominant 7th chord with a flat 13th (enharmonically a sharp 5th, but functions differently). Adds specific tension quality.
• Chord 6/9 Sus4 (Jazz-Rock Fusion Chord) Employ a chord combining suspended 4th with added 6th and 9th tones (e.g., C-F-G-A-D). Creates sophisticated ambiguity popular in fusion contexts.
• Scale Blues Scale with Added 6th Use a minor pentatonic blues scale with added 6th degree (e.g., A-C-D-E♭-E-G-A). Creates expanded blues vocabulary while maintaining bluesy character.
• Roman Numeral Modal Cadence (e.g., II7 - IMaj7 in Lydian) Create a cadence that establishes a modal feel rather than traditional major/minor tonality. Examples include ♭VIIMaj7 - I7 for Mixolydian; iimin7 - vmin7 - imin7 for Dorian.
• Roman Numeral Tritone Substitution Progression Replace dominant chords with their tritone substitutes (e.g., use D♭7 instead of G7 to resolve to C). Creates chromatic bassline movement and altered color.
• Roman Numeral Modal Interchange Cadence Create a cadence that borrows chords from parallel modes (e.g., using ivmin7 ♭VIMaj7 ♭VIIMaj7 to IMaj7 in a major key). Adds rich harmonic color to conventional cadences.
• Style Emulation Contemporary R&B Production Create a track with modern R&B production characteristics: atmospheric textures, trap-influenced beats, vocal processing effects, and sophisticated harmonic language.
• Rhythm Triplet Feel Groove (Hip Hop) Establish a strong triplet subdivision in your hi-hats, kick/snare pattern, or main groove (e.g., 12/8 feel over 4/4, or explicit triplets). Create a swung or trap-influenced feel.
• Production Prominent 808 Bassline with Glide/Pitch Bends Make the main bass element a tuned 808 sound, focusing on its sub-bass frequencies, decay, and incorporating pitch glides/bends. Create an expressive bass voice.
• Form 16-Bar Verse / 8-Bar Chorus Structure (Hip Hop) Structure your beat to accommodate typical Hip Hop song sections: e.g., 8-bar intro, 16-bar verse, 8-bar chorus, repeat. Design for vocal performance with clear sections.
• Harmony Soulful/Jazz Chord Sample Loop Find or create a 2-4 bar chord progression with a soulful or jazzy vibe (e.g., Rhodes, piano, guitar samples) and loop it as the harmonic foundation. Focus on warmth and harmonic richness.
• Production Sample-Based Melodic Hook (Chopped & Pitched) Create a catchy melodic hook by chopping, pitching, and resequencing a vocal or instrumental sample. Transform existing material into something new and distinctive.

Keep going

• 20 chord progressions to steal
• 25 production constraints to finish a track
• Odd time signature exercises
• 33 songwriting briefs
• Working with creative constraints

Other genres

• Jazz
• Lo-fi
• Hip Hop
• House
• Techno
• Pop
• Funk
• Ambient
• Trap
• Film Score